Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, January 23, 2021

12

OPINION

Mountain View News Saturday, January 23, 2021 


MOUNTAIN 
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LaQuetta Shamblee

STUART TOLCHIN

IT’S NOT JUST US - IT’S JUSTICE

 It’s just another Wednesday and gee I’m glad that 
I’m still around. Watching the activities of January 
20, 2021 which included the farewell of the maskless 
Trump “China” virus deniers (never to be mentioned 
again) and the arrival of reality in the presentations of 
the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris inauguration. Farewell to 
the inglorious past four years. An emphatic farewell to 
the previously unimaginable riot directed against our 
Democracy presented to us live on television just two 
Wednesdays ago. The orderly presentation of the inaugural 
activities of today including the participation of 
former (hooray for former) Vice President Mike Pence and former majority Leader 
Mitch McConnell is a hopeful sign. As President Biden explained in his powerful 
speech, “If enough of us can work together there is nothing we can’t accomplish”.

 Prior to President Biden’s speech, Vice President Kamala Harris repeated 
the oath administered to her by Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. 
This oath repeated by an African/South Asian female presented to her by a Hispanic 
female Justice led me to think of another time in the not so distant past. In 1972 
I was living in Bakersfield and working as the Director of a Legal Services Program. 
Bakersfield was and is a very conservative community represented today by House 
Minority Leader and staunch Trump supporter (at least until today) Kevin McCarthy. 
To relieve some of my frustration and desirous of associating with potentially 
like-minded individuals I drove with a friend up to the City of Fresno where a Shirley 
Chisholm for President rally was being conducted. Really this was not so long 
ago but it was a very different time. Richard Nixon had been elected President in 
1968 along with Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew, the former Republican Governor 
of Maryland. There seemed little chance that any Democrat could defeat Nixon 
although there was some talk that a fairly unpublicized break-in intended to spy on 
the Democratic Party might have some effect upon Nixon’s certain re-election. It 
didn’t! Nixon won 49 States.

 Prior to the election various Democrats competed for their party’s nomination. 
Included within this group was the infamous Alabama Governor George 
Wallace whose well-remembered campaign slogan was “Segregation now, Segregation 
forever! (If you recall, Wallace was the victim of an assassination attempt during 
this campaign which left him paralyzed for life.)

 Another candidate was Shirley Chisholm who in 1969 was the first Black 
woman elected to the United States Congress. She called for a “bloodless Revolution”. 
Chisolm said she ran for the office “in spite of hopeless odds to demonstrate 
the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo”. Well change has come as demonstrated 
by the election of Vice President Harris and the presence of Justice Sotomayor. 
It’s taken 29 years but it has come and is still coming. Progress and coming 
equality was unmistakably demonstrated by the appearance of the inaugural poet 
Amanda Gorman. This 22 year old African American Woman from Santa Monica, 
no less, completely stole the show. She told the world that a skinny Black girl descendant 
from slaves, raised by a single mother, stood for the future. She represents 
the promise of this Country explaining that Democracy can never be defeated. She 
supported President Biden’s assertion that there are “enough of us” to overcome the 
divisiveness now present in this country. Her call for Justice included a demand 
for equality and an end to systematic racism which has so damaged this country. 
Her use of the word “Justice” brought to mind the old Richard Pryor joke of a 
generation ago about what “Justice: meant in terms of African Americans relation 
to Police conduct. In terms of arrest “Justice” meant penalties and mistreatment 
for “Just Us”. The events of the last years resulting in the deaths of George Floyd, 
Briana Taylor, Elijah McClain, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and too many others 
demonstrate that Pryor’s characterization of what is meant by Justice is still with 
us. Hopefully the election of Kamala Harris, together with the presentation by 
Amanda Gorman demonstrate that a better understanding of what “Justice” should 
mean is on the way. It is this belief and hope that contributed to the naming of my 
granddaughter aspirationally named Justice. 


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LEFT, RIGHT OR CENTER! 

TOM PURCELL

WHAT AMERICA NEEDS IS A 
HEARTY LAUGH

RICH MANIERI

SEARCHING FOR UNITY IN 
A SEA OF EXCLAMATION 
POINTS


America 
could use a hearty laugh right now, but laughter doesn’t come 
easily because too many Americans have lost their sense of humor.

Humor, says Merriam-Webster, is “the ability to be funny or to be 
amused by things that are funny.”

We are at our best when we’re amused. Few things can better reduce 
stress or shed light on truth than a good joke.

I can’t think of a better time to revisit what some great minds have said about humor’s 
incredible value – to both individuals and well-functioning societies.

“Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully 
important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. 
It’s more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can 
see how things can be in whack.” – Dr. Seuss

These words couldn’t be more pertinent to the wackiness of 2021, when half the country 
thinks the other half should be silenced in all public forums.

“If you find it hard to laugh at yourself, I would be happy to do it for you.” – Groucho 
Marx

Groucho’s words remind me of something that “Saturday Night Live” founder Lorne Michaels 
said about poking fun at politicians. He noted that when the show pokes fun at 
Republicans, they find it funny – they don’t take the ribbing as personally as do some with 
opposite political points of view.

“Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to 
console him for what he is.” – Francis Bacon

To be sure, we human beings can be flawed in so many ways – our politicians, who are 
supposed to reflect our will, even more so.

As some of our more egocentric politicians make trivial matters into large affairs, don’t 
they risk overlooking genuine problems that their constituents are begging them to 
address?

Doesn’t a sense of humor – which is one and the same as a sense of humility – offer an 
antidote to such self-absorption?

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A 
sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” – William James

Common sense, which Merriam-Webster describes as “sound and prudent judgment 
based on a simple perception of the situation or facts,” is no longer common.

Opinion is what is far too common now – opinion that’s not rooted in much of anything 
factual, but in everything emotional.

Opinion and sarcasm are closely related – opinion and self-seriousness are strongly related 
– but opinion and humor are not related often enough.

Look, America needs to restore its sense of humor. We need a good belly laugh for our 
own health and that of our republic.

“We change physiologically when we laugh,” reports WebMD. “We stretch muscles 
throughout our face and body, our pulse and blood pressure go up, and we breathe faster, 
sending more oxygen to our tissues.”

What our country needs is no more complicated than this great thought from a common-
sense country singer:

“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.” – 
Reba McEntire

 Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.
com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by 
Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact Sales@cagle.
com or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at Tom@TomPurcell.com.

An email laced with exclamation points 
is never a good sign. At least not if you’re 
me.

In my world, exclamation points usually 
follow words such as “idiot!” or “communist!” 
I take issue with the latter though 
the former is certainly up for discussion.

Moreover, when the salutation itself is followed 
by an exclamation point, as it was 
in a recent email, I know it’s trouble. “Mr. 
Manieri!”

Inside voice. I’m right here.

This particular writer went on to make 
several assumptions about my intellect, 
or lack of. He ended with a call to action. 
“Defend your character!”

For context, the writer was responding to 
a column I wrote in which I blamed President 
Trump for lighting the fuse that led 
to the Capitol riots. He went on to ask how 
I could do such a thing when it was clear 
that members of Antifa and Black Lives 
Matter were bused in and were, in fact, 
responsible for the insurrection – a claim 
without any basis in fact.

My response featured a conspicuous absence 
of exclamation points as I encouraged 
the writer to keep an eye on his blood 
pressure.

I resisted quoting from Proverbs 15: 
“Those who are hot-tempered stir up 
strife, but those who are slow to anger 
calm contention.”

If you watch much television, or any television, 
or if you engage in social media, 
it’s pretty clear that we tend to punctuate 
our discourse with exclamation points. 
Perhaps Jerry Springer was actually a visionary. 
He understood the marketability 
of impoliteness and boorish behavior long 
before it went mainstream. (By the way, I 
promise never to use the name “Springer” 
and the word “visionary” in the same sentence 
again.)

Civility has fallen out of fashion. Some say 
it’s overrated. How do I know this? I refer 
you to a Dec. 2019 piece in the Atlantic 
titled, “Civility is Overrated.”

An NPR article in 2019 quotes Lynn 
Itagaki, an associate professor at the University 
of Missouri, who said, “Civility has 
been about making sure that the status 
quo, the hierarchy of the status quo at the 
moment, which means racial inequality, 
gender inequality, class inequality, stays 
permanent.”

By this redefinition of civility, it would be 
permissible and even encouraged to meet 
any injustice, perceived or actual, with an 
uncivil response. That’s fine if you happen 
to agree on the injustice. For example, if 
your candidate loses a presidential election 
and you believe the election was 
rigged, storming the Capitol might be an 
appropriately uncivil response.

Thus, if 
you disagree 
with 
someone 
and you’re 
convinced 
you’re on 
the right 
side, what’s 
the point 
of a civil 
response? After all, you’re right and he’s 
wrong.

Many believe our national discourse fell 
apart the moment Donald Trump darkened 
the doorway of the Oval Office. 
Surely, the former president, with his unhelpful 
rhetoric, name-calling and incessant 
tweeting contributed to the problem. 
But he wasn’t alone.

Our elected representatives in Washington 
– Republicans and Democrats – have 
been content to play their respective parts 
in the Monty Python “Argument Clinic” 
sketch.

“Is this the right room for an argument?”

“I told you once.”

“No you haven’t.”

“Yes I have.”

“When?”

“Just now.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Yes I did.”

The main difference, of course, between 
the sketch and reality is there’s nothing 
even mildly amusing about the real thing.

For what it’s worth, President Biden struck 
mostly the right tone in his inauguration 
speech.

“I pledge this to you – I will be a president 
for all Americans, and I promise you, I will 
fight as hard for those who did not support 
me as for those who did,” Biden said. 
He then signed 15 executive orders undoing 
various Trump policies.

Unity is a fine message but no amount of 
rhetorical gymnastics will bring people together 
unless we’re willing to understand 
and listen to those with whom we disagree. 
That means acknowledging that not 
all of the 75 million Americans who voted 
for Donald Trump are racists and that not 
everyone who voted for Joe Biden is pushing 
a Marxist agenda.

From the president on down, unless we’re 
truly committed to making unity a reality, 
it won’t happen, no matter how many exclamation 
points we use.

Rich Manieri is a Philadelphia-born journalist 
and author.


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